 | The honest ghost |  |
After his Assesse at Penrith;
Addressed to his Honour.
January 31. 1655.
“How now! Mount I to twenty pounds Assesse,
“When my Rint-charges rise to such a rate
“As no inferiour Judgement could hold lesse
“Then free indulgence to my squiezed State?
“You doom, I melt; shall I the Cause impart?
“Your Honours civill usage won my heart.
“Yet that those Grounds were good I stood upon,
“Peruse these Reasons, Sir, and I have don.
What's twenty pounds Assesse to him that may
Improve the State more by his Pen then Pay;
When He to forraine Nations shall make knowne
The Bounty and great Pity you have showne
To State-Delinquents! when with face to face
They'r look'd upon like Children of Grace.
As th'late Act of Oblivion seem'd to approve,
That we were all One Familie of love.
Thrice Sacred Cement! when Revenge must cease;
And Patience smile on forepast Injuries.
By which your Fame might to Successions ring;
“To have Power and not to doe, 's a noble thing:
A Princely-Lyon Ire: when hostile force
Puts off the Roabs of Rage, and donns Remorce.
No Marble, Topaz, Ivory, Thracian Stone
Could reare you Shrines more to be look't upon;
Nor more admir'd: Statues are works of time,
True worth admits no period nor decline.
“When my Rint-charges rise to such a rate
“As no inferiour Judgement could hold lesse
“Then free indulgence to my squiezed State?
“You doom, I melt; shall I the Cause impart?
“Your Honours civill usage won my heart.
307
“Peruse these Reasons, Sir, and I have don.
What's twenty pounds Assesse to him that may
Improve the State more by his Pen then Pay;
When He to forraine Nations shall make knowne
The Bounty and great Pity you have showne
To State-Delinquents! when with face to face
They'r look'd upon like Children of Grace.
As th'late Act of Oblivion seem'd to approve,
That we were all One Familie of love.
Thrice Sacred Cement! when Revenge must cease;
And Patience smile on forepast Injuries.
By which your Fame might to Successions ring;
“To have Power and not to doe, 's a noble thing:
A Princely-Lyon Ire: when hostile force
Puts off the Roabs of Rage, and donns Remorce.
No Marble, Topaz, Ivory, Thracian Stone
Could reare you Shrines more to be look't upon;
Nor more admir'd: Statues are works of time,
True worth admits no period nor decline.
Now to my selfe;—Should I in briefe relate
The forme of th' Spartan or the Theban State
In their necessitous times; you might perceive
What Priviledges they to Pen-men gave:
For by their Annals I shall make 't appeare
From all Assessments They exempted were.
First, that their Writings might disperse their Fame;
Next, that their Penns more gingerly might blame
The Errors of those times: and Palliate
In a smooth Style th' Abuses of the State:
Seeking by artfull secret mists to smother
The Soile of Sinne, but to display the Other.
The forme of th' Spartan or the Theban State
In their necessitous times; you might perceive
What Priviledges they to Pen-men gave:
For by their Annals I shall make 't appeare
From all Assessments They exempted were.
308
Next, that their Penns more gingerly might blame
The Errors of those times: and Palliate
In a smooth Style th' Abuses of the State:
Seeking by artfull secret mists to smother
The Soile of Sinne, but to display the Other.
Sometimes have I extoll'd you in this sort,
And if too much, pray God forgive me for't.
Nor did I onely in that Land-skip show
State-virtues, but emergent vices too.
“Good faces are with Moals much beautifide;
“Venus seem'd fair'st, when Nais sat beside.
“Vice setts off Vertue best:—No Pearls spread
“Their Lustre more, then when they 'r set in Lead.
There's none that ever knew me One of those
That for a Diadem could learn to gloze.
For had I practised the Art to Flatter
“Th' increase of Fortune had deprav'd my Nature.
Yet had I prov'd Proficient in that Art,
I'le tell you, Sir, the secrets of my Heart,
(For I dare venture to unrivet it
To one of Honour, Judgement, Worth and Wit,)
I'm confident, I had not so long waited
On your Commission to be Decimated.
Since SELDAN that Authentick Instrument
And constant Servant to the Parlament,
Directly prov'd no Tenths at all were due
Unto the Clergy; then much lesse to you.
Whom though our Rabbies labour'd to confute,
They might have Silence kept with more repute:
For such Antiquity and Reason met
As his Assertions were not answer'd yet.
BESIDES all this; the Spartan State decree'd
That all such Parents as their Children breed
In Arts and Studies of Philosophie
From all Assessments should exempted be:
And by deductions from Rint-charges granted
Supply those Tacklings Education wanted.
Which Law one day when Cleon did oppose,
Tyrtæus in defence oth' Edict rose,
Saying; “If these so neare us might not share
“In our Provision and Parentall care;
“May this strict opposition be obey'd
“And al Male-children henceforth Eunuchs made.
Which smart Reply drove th'Court to such a laughter
As the like Motion ne're was heard of after.
To those object, “'Tis folly to delay
“This Grand Assesse, our Souldiers must have pay;
My answer is; “I'm Natures deepest debter;
“I love a Souldier well, but Children better.
But since I must their Benefactor prove,
Their prayers, me thinks, should gratify my love.
But though I pay them more then does become me.
They pray not for me, but they prey upon me.
And if too much, pray God forgive me for't.
Nor did I onely in that Land-skip show
State-virtues, but emergent vices too.
“Good faces are with Moals much beautifide;
“Venus seem'd fair'st, when Nais sat beside.
“Vice setts off Vertue best:—No Pearls spread
“Their Lustre more, then when they 'r set in Lead.
There's none that ever knew me One of those
That for a Diadem could learn to gloze.
For had I practised the Art to Flatter
“Th' increase of Fortune had deprav'd my Nature.
Yet had I prov'd Proficient in that Art,
I'le tell you, Sir, the secrets of my Heart,
(For I dare venture to unrivet it
To one of Honour, Judgement, Worth and Wit,)
I'm confident, I had not so long waited
On your Commission to be Decimated.
309
And constant Servant to the Parlament,
Directly prov'd no Tenths at all were due
Unto the Clergy; then much lesse to you.
Whom though our Rabbies labour'd to confute,
They might have Silence kept with more repute:
For such Antiquity and Reason met
As his Assertions were not answer'd yet.
BESIDES all this; the Spartan State decree'd
That all such Parents as their Children breed
In Arts and Studies of Philosophie
From all Assessments should exempted be:
And by deductions from Rint-charges granted
Supply those Tacklings Education wanted.
Which Law one day when Cleon did oppose,
Tyrtæus in defence oth' Edict rose,
Saying; “If these so neare us might not share
“In our Provision and Parentall care;
“May this strict opposition be obey'd
“And al Male-children henceforth Eunuchs made.
Which smart Reply drove th'Court to such a laughter
As the like Motion ne're was heard of after.
To those object, “'Tis folly to delay
“This Grand Assesse, our Souldiers must have pay;
My answer is; “I'm Natures deepest debter;
“I love a Souldier well, but Children better.
But since I must their Benefactor prove,
Their prayers, me thinks, should gratify my love.
310
They pray not for me, but they prey upon me.
When aged Priam or'e Sackt Troy did reigne,
Never had he more Children to maintaine;
Must I dis-owne whom Nature bids me owne,
To furnish Those, to whom I am unknowne?
The case is Ours: let Application draw
From th' Spartan Act, life to an English Law:
For if such Masters worse then Ethnicks be
Provide not for a private Familie;
Those Fathers, surely, should be held unfit
To live, who take no care of those they git.
“Those wild Oats youth has sowne, Old age must reap thē.
“And what we got, an other must not keepe them.
Deare Sir give eare; what Native Love alledges
Concerns us all; the tender of our Pledges.
But you 'r so truly Noble; as no feare
Of your just Care dares put in Anchor heere.
Never had he more Children to maintaine;
Must I dis-owne whom Nature bids me owne,
To furnish Those, to whom I am unknowne?
The case is Ours: let Application draw
From th' Spartan Act, life to an English Law:
For if such Masters worse then Ethnicks be
Provide not for a private Familie;
Those Fathers, surely, should be held unfit
To live, who take no care of those they git.
“Those wild Oats youth has sowne, Old age must reap thē.
“And what we got, an other must not keepe them.
Deare Sir give eare; what Native Love alledges
Concerns us all; the tender of our Pledges.
But you 'r so truly Noble; as no feare
Of your just Care dares put in Anchor heere.
Your most devotionall decimated Servant R. B.
[_]
With your HON. Certificate, let me partake this noble favour from your approved Goodnesse: To have my Assesse (after the merit of my Cause) respited, till my repair to London, which I purpose (God willing) early next Month. Where I hope by application and your HON. assistance, to mitigate, if not wholly mediate my Assesse.
Panorm. de Jure Civili. C. X. Conrad. de Magistrali discip. C. 5. Palud. de Antiq. Leg. L. 3. C. 6. Carnead. de Princip. Regim. C. 8. Paragraph. 7. Pelarg. in Quæst. Aristocrat. fol. 30. Camerar. de Gest. Orient. Li. Z. C. 6.
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